A Personal God[1]
You know how it is to be driving down the road and have something far in
the distance catch your eye. At first you struggle to make out what it is.
Then, the closer you get, the better you see it. We have experienced the same
kind of thing this week as we have examined our perspective on God. From a
distance we could see that He stands out as the one, true God. Then it became obvious
that He is much bigger and more powerful than we can ever imagine. In yesterday’s
study we discovered Him to be quite approachable. And our close-up shot of Him
only made us want to know Him more.
Today we will have that chance. Knowing God in a personal way is actually
the highest level of Emmanuel. He is not only God with us. He can and should be
God with me. That is His ultimate goal: to be a friend to each of us.
There is a popular contemporary praise and worship song with the chorus, “I
am a friend of God. He calls me friend.” I like this song. But we can’t just
get up on any given day and thoughtlessly mouth those lyrics. They may or may
not be true of us at that particular time. Now if the focus were, “I am a child
of God. He calls me child,” then that would always be appropriate (if we have
accepted Christ, of course). Why the difference? Friendship
with God is based on our present obedience, while a
relationship with Him is based on our permanent adoption as His
children (see Romans 8:15-17).
It is sad to say, though, that even worship leaders and musicians, who
sing and play for God so often, may not know the Lord as their friend.
A parallel comparison would be astronomers that constantly look into
space and are not completely awestruck by the universe, but have grown
accustomed to the stars’ grandeur that they miss the forest for the trees (or
the galaxy for the stars, in this case). In the same way, worship leaders and
pastors are in danger of merely going through the motions of “professional
praise” without connecting on an intimate level with the One to whom the praise
is directed. Friendship with a personal God is an absolute must for us.
Evidences of God’s Friendship
No doubt you may be thinking, “But how can we know for sure that God
wants to be that personal? Isn’t it enough that He knows my name among those of
so many Christians? Now you say He wants to get involved with every detail of
my life-where I work, who I hang out with, where I buy my groceries? If I stub
my toe, He actually wants to know and help? Come on, isn’t that presumptuous and
arrogant?” Well, yes and no. Yes, God does want to be a part of every area of
your life. And no, I am not presuming something that is not true.
Consider these facts: First, He knows every hair on our heads (Matthew
10:30). (Unfortunately for me that is shrinking every day.) Then there are the
ravens and the lilies. Jesus said to consider how they care for them: they don’t
toil or reap, yet He provides for all their needs. Since the Father does all
that, Jesus assured us, “How much more will He clothe you?...How much more valuable
you are” (See Luke 12.) The Lord even cares when a sparrow falls. Imagine how
much more He takes note of us! (Matthew 10:29).
Friendship with God is a biblical idea. In fact, it was God who came up
with it (of course). Still not convinced that God wants to be your friend! Then
we will dig deeper…
Read Genesis 3:8-13. Consider how Adam and Eve must have felt during their
stroll with God each day before they sinned. Did you notice how natural God’s
conversation with them was? It is as though they had spoken many times before
in that setting. Evidently, God had already established a friendship with His
new creation. Too bad Adam and Eve marred it through their disobedience.
In 2 Chronicles 20:7, Jehoshaphat called Abraham God’s friend because God
Himself called Abraham His friend (Isaiah 41:8). I imagine Jehoshaphat was also
hoping that God would be the people of Judah’s friend that day. They sure
needed one!
And what about the names of God? The children of Judah recognized their God
to be both fearful, powerful Elohim and relational, promise-keeping Jehovah.
This was a good balance for them, and it’s also a healthy description for us of
what God has in mind for friendship with His people. We are never to view God
as our buddy, our pal, just someone we like to hang out with. Whether we are on
stage in front of a thousand people or alone in our homes, God is still Elohim,
worthy of our fearful reverence. At the same time, we can enjoy His intimate fellowship
because He is Jehovah. He has chosen to reveal His personality to us. He obviously
wants us to get to know Him.
Our most important and reliable revelation of God was, of course, the advent
of His Son. Who better than Jesus to teach us about friendship? He had many
friends. Certainly He was good friends with His disciples. He spent
considerable time with three siblings: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Jesus was for
all these, “a real friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24,
NLT). In Luke 7:34, He is even called a “friend of…sinners.”
Three Lessons from Jesus
There are at least three lessons we can learn from Jesus about friendship
with a Holy God. Read John 15:13, Jesus was about to prove His love for His
friends by dying for them. Skip down to verse 16. Who chose whom?
The first lesson is God initiates the friendship.
In Knowing God, J.I. Packer writes, “We do not make friends with God; God
makes friends with us, bringing us to know Him by making His love known to us.”[2]
The second lesson from Jesus’ life is that some friendships with God are
closer than others.
I don’t mean to imply that some people get more “cozy” with God or that some
might get “off the hook” with God for certain things while others won’t. No, we
all stand before the impartial Judge one day and give account for our lives
(see 1 Peter 1:17). But there is ample evidence that Jesus was indeed closer to
some people than others.
Read John 15:15, and notice that, as Jesus’ friends, the disciples were
privy to special information. He was especially close to three disciples. He
chose Peter, James, and John to see Him transfigured (Matthew 17:1-2), and He
handpicked these same three disciples to accompany Him deeper into the Garden
of Gethsemane to pray (Mark 14:32-33). Were these three men more “special” for some
reason? Not really. But apparently Jesus did trust them more. It could be that
He saw more passion and loyalty.
One final lesson for us from Jesus’ friendship is this: To
be His friend, we must be obedient. Jesus couldn’t have been clearer:
“You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14).
My Daily Praise
Pray out loud now, praising God that is Elohim, the fearful and powerful
One. Then thank Him that He is also Jehovah, who wants to be your closest
friend.
My Daily Surrender
Ask God what you need to do to be more obedient to Him. Willingly submit
to whatever He tells you to do. Write that prayer below.
No comments:
Post a Comment